"The combination of Cleary's real and fictive narratives, Zarillo says, demonstrates that "the elaborate instructional systems used in elementary classrooms, complete with texts, workbooks, dittos, and prescriptive-diagnostic tests, create formidable obstacles to be overcome by children who want to read books for personal interest" (p. 133). Such practices, he concludes, mostly disappoint and frustrate students like Ramona who "come to school able and eager to read" (p. 131)."

Creating obstacles for a young reader to reach doesn't help every child. I like that the book has that conflict in it. It can teach students that not everyone is the same and not every student learns the same. A child should not feel any less about their abilities. Clearly Cleary is writing children's books for teachers as well as children. Puts a lot into perspective.

" After a year-long study of her kindergarten class, she comes to view the superhero play of the boys and the doll-corner play of the girls as narratives through which the children explore, define, and practice their cultural (e.g., gender) roles. The boys construct "serious drama" based on Star Wars and other contemporary superhero tales; the girls play at the "single drama" of the doll corner, which often becomes a Cinderella tale; together they reenact The Boxcar Children. Paley concludes that girl-play and boyplay are strikingly similar in that whether the "play" is Cinderella or Darth Vader, girls and boys are equally noisy, equally messy, and equally interested in "social order" (pp. 82, 23). " This statment is deffinitly true. They may gravitate to certain activities more than their peers of opposite sex, but they are definitly still loud and messy as any other child. It also makes me think of my Kindergarten students and how and what they play with more. My girls are normally together and either playing with the animals or reading and the boys rather play with the building toys. I do have a little girl who is very much like Ramona, she plays with whatever she wants. We played soccer and my girls stayed back most of the time but she was right in there with the boys. As I read the book and the article all I picture is this one student.

"has recently been applied to the ways in which schools help reinforce gender roles, whether they intend to or not." " This statement bothered me. I do not like how everything is either for boy or for girls. I have my students tell me in the beginning of the year tell me all about who they are. Last year I had a little boy tell me his favorite color is pink. Almost everyone laughed at him when they found out. As a teacher I nipped the in the bud and told them my favorite color is red, a typical boy color, then told them my dad likes the color purple. My students look at me with disbelief which then leads us into the conversation of how there are not boy or girl colors there are just colors just like there are no boy or girl activities just activities. After that conversation I found the book The Princess Boy essentially knocking all typical stereo types out the water.

"Michael Apple identifies those behaviors as "the norms and values that are implicitly, but effectively, taught in schools" as part of the "hidden curriculum," though they are "not usually talked about in teachers' statements or end goals." This hidden curriculum teaches the "basic rules" that dictate "the choices one has within the rules of the game" children come to know as school (p. 86). There, "students tacitly learn certain identifiable social norms mainly by coping with the day to day encounters and tasks of classroom life" (p. 87). "

As a teacher I tell my students that the rules are in place to keep them from harms way. It never resonated with me that it is in fact a hidden curriculum to teach children about the rules of society. Now the question I have is, we teach children to be unique and different and to think for their selves but we also expect them to fit into a little box. Why do we expect children to conform to our standards? Why can't we work the standards around the child?